KDP Cover Calculator
Enter your book size, page count and paper. You get the exact full cover size and spine width KDP needs, in inches, millimetres and pixels, with a to-scale diagram.
Need a template?
Download a PNG or PDF at this exact size, with the bleed, spine, safe area and barcode area marked. Your book details carry over.
Get the cover template →Full cover (with bleed)
12.7 × 9.25 in
Make your design canvas this size
Spine width
0.45 in
Changes with your page count and paper
Your cover layout
Drawn to scale: back cover, spine and front cover.
Front & back cover
6 × 9 in
Each side of the book after trimming
Safe area (each cover)
5.875 × 8.75 in
Keep text and faces inside this
Spine text area
0.325 × 8.75 in
Text stays this far inside the folds
Bleed
0.125 in
On the top, bottom and outside edges
Barcode area
2 × 1.2 in
Back cover, lower right. KDP adds it if you leave it empty
How to use it
- 1
Enter your book
Pick your book size, type the number of pages and choose your paper. Your choices are remembered for next time.
- 2
Read your sizes
The full cover size and spine width update as you type. Use the Copy buttons to paste them into your design app.
- 3
Get a template
Download a PNG or PDF at the exact size, with the bleed, spine, safe area and barcode area marked.
How KDP works out your cover size
A paperback cover is printed as one flat sheet that wraps around the book: back cover on the left, spine in the middle, front cover on the right. So the cover is a little more than twice as wide as your book, and the exact width depends on how thick the spine is.
- Width = 0.125 in bleed + trim width (back) + spine + trim width (front) + 0.125 in bleed
- Height = 0.125 in bleed + trim height + 0.125 in bleed
- Spine = page count × paper thickness
Paper thickness per page
| Paper and ink | Per page | 200-page spine |
|---|---|---|
| Black ink, white paper | 0.002252 in | 0.4504 in |
| Black ink, cream paper | 0.0025 in | 0.5 in |
| Black ink, groundwood paper | 0.00235 in | 0.47 in |
| Standard colour, white paper | 0.002252 in | 0.4504 in |
| Premium colour, white paper | 0.002347 in | 0.4694 in |
A worked example
A 6 × 9 in novel with 200 pages of black ink on white paper has a spine of 200 × 0.002252 = 0.4504 in. The full cover is 0.125 + 6 + 0.4504 + 6 + 0.125 = 12.7004 in wide and 9 + 0.25 = 9.25 in tall. At 300 DPI that is 3811 × 2775 px. Switch the same book to cream paper and the spine grows to 0.5 in, so the cover becomes 12.75 in wide. That is why you should only make your final cover once your page count and paper are fixed.
The other sizes
The safe area keeps important text and faces at least 0.125 in inside the top, bottom and outside trim lines, so a slightly uneven cut never touches them. Spine text needs 80 pages or more and should stay 0.0625 in clear of each fold. The barcode area is 2 × 1.2 in, in the lower right of the back cover.
When the numbers look right, the cover template generator makes a PNG or PDF at this exact size with every guide drawn in, ready to design on top of.
Questions and answers
How do I calculate the spine width for KDP?
Multiply your page count by the paper thickness: 0.002252 in per page for white paper (black ink or standard colour), 0.0025 in for cream paper, 0.00235 in for groundwood paper and 0.002347 in for premium colour. A 200-page book on white paper has a 0.4504 in spine.
What is the full cover size for a 6 × 9 in book?
It depends on the page count. With 200 pages on white paper it is 12.7004 × 9.25 in: 0.125 in bleed + 6 in back + 0.4504 in spine + 6 in front + 0.125 in bleed wide, and 9 in + 0.25 in bleed tall.
Can I put text on the spine?
Only if your book has at least 80 pages. Keep spine text at least 0.0625 in away from each fold, because the fold can shift slightly when the book is bound.
Where does the barcode go?
In the lower right of the back cover, in a 2 × 1.2 in area 0.25 in from the spine and the bottom trim. If you leave that space empty, KDP adds the barcode for you.
What resolution should my cover be?
At least 300 DPI. Switch the units to “px @ 300” to see the pixel size, for example 3811 × 2775 px for a 6 × 9 in book with 200 white pages.
What is groundwood paper?
A paper option for black-and-white paperbacks, about 5% cheaper to print per page than white or cream, according to KDP. It is 0.00235 in per page, so a book switched to groundwood needs a new cover once the spine changes: KDP says this happens over 525 pages for white paper and 350 pages for cream.
Do these numbers match KDP’s own calculator?
Yes. We checked twenty different books, from 24 to 828 pages and every paper type including groundwood, against KDP’s cover calculator, and every size matched to within a thousandth of an inch.
Related tools
Cover template generator
Download a cover template that’s already the right size, ready for Canva or Photoshop.
Open tool